Locks: Storybrook
by abetternameneeded
Summary: In which Wish!Hook learns Alice doesn't lock her door. Not in the same continuity as "Locks"


A/N: In which Wish!Hook finds out Alice doesn't lock doors.

Robin had known for a while Alice didn't lock the door behind her. She never did it when she lived in the cottage There was no reason for her to start now. There was still magic in Storybrook. But it was far less safe now. Alice no longer lived on the outskirts of civilization where it was rumored Rumpelstiltskin lived nearby. Robin wasn't entirely convinced that the former dark one hadn't started that rumor in order to keep Alice a little more safe.

Robin wouldn't push the issue. If Alice was scared, that was okay. She had taught her how to pick a lock at one point and it had put Alice's fears at some ease. But the blonde was still scared of locks. Still scared of being trapped. Still scared of being alone.

And so, they never checked the locks. Robin wasn't sure she'd ever seen the key to their apartment.

"Up for a trip to Granny's?" Robin asked as she stared at the mess she had made trying to make her and Alice something to eat. Robin had never been skilled at cooking. It wasn't much of a skill she needed growing up.

"Aye," Alice's voice and body bounced a bit. She was always up for any sort of adventure. And to her even the littlest things felt like a big adventure. She'd spent so much time locked away in a tower away from the world.

They headed toward the diner. Robin shut the door behind them. She didn't look at the lock. But it hadn't been used in months. Hadn't been tested in longer as far as they knew.

They chatted through their lunch. They ran into Alice's papa and they spoke for a while. They invited him back to their apartment. Although he didn't need an invite in order to come visit. And the three made their way back towards Alice and Robin's apartment.

Robin grabbed the door handle and turned it. Nothing. That was odd. The door wasn't locked when they left. Was it?

"Lass, I think you have to unlock it," Killian suggested, unaware that they almost never locked this door.

"I don't remember locking it," Robin admitted. Killian raised an eyebrow. It was the same look Alice had when she was questioning something Robin said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah it shouldn't be locked," Robin told him.

"Do either of you have a key?" Killian suggested.

"I don't, Alice do you have one?" Robin asked. She knew the answer deep down was that Alice had probably never so much as touched the key to the apartment.

"What use would I have for a key?" Alice asked her.

Robin groaned internally. Killain's eyes widened.

"What'd you mean, Starfish?" he asked gently. Horrified of the answer that he feared might come.

"I don't like locking doors," Alice admitted. "They're scary."

That gave Killian pause. His daughter was scared of being trapped again, wasn't she?

"Aye, they can be," he told her. He wasn't scared of locks, but he feared her being held against her will ever again.

"What if–what if I get trapped in there when I lock a door behind me?" Alice voiced her worries.

"I won't let that happen, Starfish" he told her.

"Me either," Robin piped in. "But I don't know how we're getting back in the apartment."

"Sleight of hand," Alice told her.

"You're right," Robin told her. And she picked the lock. The three walked in and as Killian went to close to door Alice stopped him.

"No, don't."

"What?" he asked.

"Don't close the door." she told him. "it might get stuck again."

Killian could maybe let go the fact Alice didn't lock the door but leaving it completely open? That crossed a line.

"Alice, that's not safe. And that's not going to happen."

She was just as strong willed as him. "How do you know?" she questioned him.

He fought back the urge to roll his eye. "I don't," he admitted. "Here, how about we have someone come look at the lock to check it?"

Alice nodded

He didn't call a locksmith, he called Regina. With her magic she could check the lock a lot faster and a lot more accurately.

She examined the lock.

"This doesn't work all that well, when was the last time you used it?" she asked.

Robin thought for a moment. "When we moved in, maybe?" she offered.

They replaced the lock with one that wasn't defective, and Regina suggested they lock it from the outside occasionally, to ensure it didn't get stuck.


End file.
